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Toddler Language Slipups

Your child's speech skills are exploding now, but expect a few tongue-tied moments as she's picking up pronouns, verbs, and the like. Learn why toddler language flubs happen and what you can do to turn them into teachable moments.

Though most tiny talkers say their first words at around 12 months, it takes practice, practice, and more practice until they’re speaking in sentences and pronouncing words perfectly. On the way to speech mastery and grasping grammar rules, there will be many totally normal (and absolutely adorable) toddler language slipups. Here’s what causes those oh-so-sweet beginners’ blunders:

She’s still learning to move her mouth. Sounds that call for extra tongue maneuvers, like “l” and “s,” are difficult for young toddlers to say, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Older toddlers have trouble with blends, such as “th” sounds and may not nail those combos until age six. But the more your tot tries out those sounds, the quicker she’ll refine them.

She doesn’t have a lot of experience talking to others. Younger toddlers simply haven’t interacted with (or listened to) many people yet, so they’re prone to bloopers like calling a boy “she” or a girl “he.” As your child gets older and encounters more people, her toddler language skills will improve.

She’s still building her vocabulary. Language development accelerates once kids have a bigger word bank (by about age three). At that point they'll move on to learning more difficult concepts like verbs, prepositions, tenses, and plurals.

She’s busy mastering other skills. Your munchkin may not make much progress on the toddler language front while she’s concentrating on other tasks — and she does have several items on her learning to-do list. So if she’s working on throwing a ball, perfecting those consonants will just have to wait.

She has a developmental delay. Odds are those endearing missteps merely mean that your toddler is still learning, but if you’re concerned that speech delays, hearing loss (especially if your tot has had an ear infection), or autism may be holding back your toddler’s language skills, talk to your pediatrician. To help your toddler become a super speaker, click on the links below to learn how to handle the most common toddler language trip-ups.